"The incident happened around 12:40 a.m. at the Hyatt, at 9300 West Bryn Mawr Avenue in Rosemont, according to a statement from the Rosemont Public Safety Department. First responders were called to investigate a noxious odor that was spreading across the ninth floor of the hotel, where a high level of chlorine gas was discovered in the air, the statement said. ...

"Technicians decontaminated the area and after conducting several tests deemed the area safe within about two hours. People were allowed back into the building around 3:30 a.m. Some convention-goers, some of whom were dressed up as animal characters, stood outside of the building. Hundreds more were escaping the chilly weather at other buildings."

Troops said more stress is created by long-term budget cuts imposed on the force through sequestration — the much-despised but apparently inexorable automatic spending reductions over a decade approved by Congress — and drawdown measures designed to shrink the force. An Air Force captain working in security forces said the fiscal insecurity is taking its toll, causing more workplace exhaustion and frustration. And personal career uncertainty, he said, is driving many of his colleagues out of the service, perhaps earlier than they otherwise would have departed.

"It makes it really hard for folks to build strong résumés for themselves if we can't provide the opportunities for them, both in and out of the service," he said. "If they see us pinching pennies, and we can't afford to send them to school, there's no long-term stability for them. So at that point, they start to look for a job outside, where you don't have the additional strain on their family."

Divide and conquer? Wouldn't that just make it that much easier for some other country to waltz all over US(A)?

Caribbean leaders urged the United States to lift its 54-year-old "senseless" embargo against Communist-ruled Cuba on Sunday as they convened in Havana for a regional summit.

The summit -- bringing together the 15 CARICOM member states and Cuba -- aims to increase trade and cooperation within the group and with Cuba.

"We continue to stand with Cuba on the United States embargo against Cuba," said Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who chairs CARICOM.

"I call on President (Barack) Obama to lift that senseless, that senseless embargo now," he added at a welcoming ceremony at the airport.
...
The United States and Cuba have lacked full diplomatic relations since 1961. In 1962, Washington imposed an economic embargo on the island, the only Communist-run country in the Americas.
...
She has said that in Panama, Washington would concentrate on shared commitments to the collective defense of democracy and human rights.

Considering the track record in this thread, and the negative aspects of Communism to Democracy:

I could go on and on with many more examples, but you’d hate me. -ANDREW FERGUSON

I like this person---^

Quote:

“Values,” he said on another occasion last year, “make us who we are as Americans.” He decided not to get too specific about which values make us, so we may conclude simply that, unlike other people, we are people with values. That’s number three. “National monuments,” he said a few years ago, “tell the story of who we are as Americans.” Number four: We’re monumental. The Bowe Bergdahl affair, from last summer, does the same thing*that national monuments do. It shows that “an ironclad commitment to bring our prisoners of war home” is what “makes us who we are as Americans.”

“We shape our destiny . . . that’s who we are.” So, number five, we are destiny shapers who always go get our prisoners of war, even if we have to let loose a bunch of Taliban first. Remember the underwear bomber? He proved that “we will be guided by our hopes, our unity, and our deeply held values. That’s who we are as Americans.” So we’re hopeful, united, and festooned with those values, unspecified. Extending unemployment benefits past 99 weeks is “who we are as Americans.” We’re big spenders when it comes to public funds. Income inequality “challenges the very essence of who we are as a people.” We can all make lots of money, as Americans, but not too much.*

Sometimes the president teams up with his wife, who uses the word clump when she’s talking about her national exercise and diet programs. She has talked about “the many cultures and faith traditions that make us who we are as Americans.” When they set about to decorate the White House for Christmas, Mrs. Obama said last year, “We tried to tell a story about who we are as Americans.”*

Notice BO's lack of the term citizen?

Code his words to the actions he's taken, asin: Apply his words to the context of his actions.

"This isn't going to be solved overnight," Obama said in an excerpt of the interview to air Dec. 8 at 6 p.m.

The interview, hosted by BET host and TV journalist Jeff Johnson, marks the president's first network discussion outlining his strategy to investigate the incidents and ways the country can unify during this time.

"This is something that's deeply rooted in our society, deeply rooted in our history. But the two things that will allow us to solve it: Number one: Is the understanding that we have made progress and so it's important to recognize that as painful as these instances are, we can't equate what's happening now with what was happening 50 years ago. If you talk to your parents, grandparents, uncles, they'll tell you that things are better,"

What's this us? There is no legal discrimination. This is out of his hands. This is not for the DoJ either.

This is a community issue. Is he audacious much? Gets worse:

Quote:

Speaking to youth on the music-variety series targeting African Americans, Obama also cited "progress" as the second most critical step.

Considering this thread and the fake Ferguson incident, what does he mean by "progress" ?

The challenge hinges on four words repeated several times in the statute: "established by the State." It posits that only state-operated health insurance exchanges can offer the federal subsidies that make premiums affordable for millions of participants. In 36 states where the federal government runs the exchanges, the lawsuit claims, such assistance shouldn't be allowed.

In remarks made at the Washington office of the government-watchdog group Judicial Watch, Sessions said: “I guess they just whispered in the ear of (DHS Director) Jeh Johnson over at Homeland Security, ‘Just put out a memo. That way we don’t have to enforce the law.’”

The United States military will keep as many as 1,000 extra troops in*Afghanistan*through early next year, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Saturday, a response to a slower-than-expected force commitment from NATO allies.

The revelation came during a trip to Afghanistan by Mr. Hagel, who made a point of saying the additional soldiers were not a response to several months of intense Taliban violence. Instead, the extra deployments appear to be intended to meet personnel requirements necessary to maintain bases across the country, including Kandahar Airfield.

The agreement to commit*more than the scheduled 9,800 troops*originally promised reflects the successful efforts of President Ashraf Ghani to rekindle warm relations between Afghanistan and the United States. European nations have been slow to commit the troops in part because of Afghanistan’s long delay in*signing a long-term security agreement*with allies.

“I don’t know if I’m pessimistic or optimistic,” said*Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, the departing commander, considering the United States military’s reduced role next year. “The fact that we are in less places, the fact that there are less of us as a coalition, is obviously concerning.”

In an interview Monday in his office after the lowering of the flag that signaled the official end of the coalition’s war-fighting mission, General Anderson offered a nuanced take on the final year of America’s longest war.

The record casualties of Afghan forces are not sustainable, and neither are their astounding desertion rates, he said. Political meddling, not intelligence, drives Afghan military missions. The police and the army do not work together.

Appropriators preparing the bill are keeping a tight lid on its contents. They are expected to release the legislation on Monday.

The government will shutdown on Dec. 12 if Congress does not approve a new funding measure by then.

The House is expected to vote first on the “cromnibus,” which includes 11 appropriations bills funding agencies through the fiscal year, and a continuing resolution (CR) that will fund the Department of Homeland Security for only a few months.

Items that outside groups are watching for include a reversal of D.C.'s recent legalization of marijuana; an attack on President Obama’s environmental regulations; and possibly a provision that could blur the lines of campaign finance laws.

And there could be unforeseen surprises, Ellis and others predicted.

“In the end, nothing surprises me and I’m sure we’re going to be finding stuff out in January or February,” Ellis said. “You have to not just be a speed-reader, but really be a superman to get through all of it.”

At 1,603 pages, the spending bill adheres to strict caps negotiated earlier between the White House and deficit- conscious Republicans, and is also salted with GOP policy proposals. As described by unhappy liberals, one would roll back new regulations that prohibit banks from using federal deposit insurance to cover investments on some complex financial instruments.

House conservatives are*griping*that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is putting the squeeze on them by rushing through a $1 trillion spending bill in Congress’s last week in session.

Appropriators are expected to roll out the legislation*early next week,*giving critics scant time to figure out what’s inside before they cast their votes by the end of the week. The government would shut down on*Dec. 12*without a new funding bill.

“Here we are doing the appropriations bill the last couple days” before a government shutdown, conservative Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) said in an interview this week. “That’s not to squeeze Harry Reid. That’s to squeeze us.”

Boehner critics say there’s no reason the Speaker couldn’t have brought the spending package to the floor this past week, giving the House more time to consider it.

But doing so*would also give more time for the right to build a case against it.

“They don’t want you to read it, that’s why! You think they want you to analyze all the mischievous items in there?” Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) *told The Hill.

Not all government functions will simply evaporate come Oct. 1 — Social Security checks will still get mailed, and veterans' hospitals will stay open. But many federal agencies will shut their doors and send their employees home, from the Environmental Protection Agency to hundreds of national parks.

So Social Security and the Military work.

So why couldn't we shut the government down?
It would stop BO's 'psuedo-executive' amnesty workings, it would stop all kinds of deficit spending, in point of fact, what reason did Congress have to keep the Government open?

“At the time, Jorge — and I can run back the tape on your questions and some of the questions at that*town hall*— the notion was that we could just stop deportations. Period. And we can’t do that,” Obama said.

“What I’ve said very clearly and consistently is that we have to enforce our immigration laws, but that we have prosecutorial discretion given the limited resources. And we can’t deport 11 million people.”

Why not? Immigration is a States Rights issue. Period. We have community law enforcement across the country that can do this job.

11 million less illegal immigrants is a good thing. They are illegal, they pay no taxes.

A coalition of 20 states filed a lawsuit to try to block President Obama’s recent immigration policy changes, which could shield up to 5 million people from deportation.

1. The legal argument centers around the “Take Care” clause of the U.S. Constitution.*As The Wall Street Journal*points out, the name sounds like “a friendly send-off,” but the take care clause actually references Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, which lists the president’s duties. “He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed” is one of those duties. The states are arguing he isn’t doing it.

"After months of thorough, business-like, sometimes tough but always civil negotiations, we have reached a responsible, bipartisan and bicameral agreement on funding for government operations for 2015," said Rogers and Mikulski in their statement. "This bill fulfills our constitutional duty to fund the government, preventing damage from shutdown politics that are bad for the economy, cost jobs and hurt middle class families."

I call bullshit.---^ None of what's in that funding bill is a Constitutional requirement.

"Right now, federal spending data is not always readily available and, if it is, it's often in a format that is not very useful," said Mark Warner (D-VA), one of the key sponsors of the bill. "This new law requires federal agencies to account for every dollar they spend (and report it) on a single website, in an easy-to-read format. It will help us to identify duplication, waste, and fraud."